Do you tend to jump into situations head first or feet first? That's the question Junip are asking today and, well... personally I wouldn't know what to answer. I tend to be a very rational human being from time to time, but when it comes down to taking decisions, I mostly base my choices on guts rather than logical judgement. The few times I've tried to take important decisions rationally, I couldn't come to a straight answer and in the end I always relied on my feelings. Does this make me a head-first kind of person? Might as well be... and where I am now would just confirm that! Cheers from Abu Dhabi airport, where I am in transit!
I keep being accused by friends and parents that I am always travelling around the world and... well, I can't say they are wrong. Probably I don't travel as much as I would like or could, we all know that seeing people on Facebook makes it look like everybody is always going around and doing cool things and this enhances my willingness to do the same, but all in all I can't complain, as especially in the last couple of years I've had my fair share of miles travelled, for one reason or another. Not being able to always find any friends to keep my pace, I also resorted to travelling alone, a thing I did last December for the first time since I was studying in Canada in 2012, and I will do it again. Tomorrow I am leaving again, this time for a trip that has been in my heart and brain for years, so I am really excited!! Maybe I won't get the time to post daily on the blog, but I'll do my best to keep you updated!
I am really glad that I devoted some time to listening to the extra materials of Radiohead's 'The bends' too, even if I am not the biggest fan of the album. This song is part of my current playlist and I've felt connected with it lately, today in particular when I found it playing in my mind with a strength I didn't think possible. I understand it's way of telling me it wants its post here now, so I won't oppose in this gloomy and grey Monday, a placid and apathetic day that feels like the going down of a spring board, a low moment that comes before something great!
I am not usually a hater (ok, that's a lie), but today I am particularly bored and tired of seeing 'Happy easter' wishes everywhere... I'm getting old and grumpy, I know, but I can't change the way I feel...! Easter has always been a weird holiday for me: I was born on an easter Sunday, then I spent most of my last 5-6 easters away from home for one reason or another, and there were all pretty good ones (one in Central Park NYC, one in Toronto, one in London...). This year we had one couple of grandparents at home for lunch (which is eventful, as it's always us going there usually), a very placid meal and now I just wish to go back to sleep, not a particularly special day. Still, even not special days can be perfect in their own way... let's get it over with and try not to exaggerate with the chocolate!!
It's been a while since I last listened to Elli de Mon, an Italian blues/rock singer-songwriter I got to know last summer as she opened a concert I've been to. I really liked her music and bought her debut album online, an album I have greatly enjoyed! I don't know why (the incipit of) this song has come back to my mind 5 minutes ago, but it did! And I forgot how I love this funky blues beat, it really takes me back to my beautiful field research adventure in US Mid-west a few years ago... great, great times! Click on the link hereunder to go to a page where you can listen to the song!
I'm making quite a few trips these days, but Rome is not among my destinations, yet I'm sharing this song on the blog anyway! I heard about 'Halsey', I don't remember how or where, then some time ago a friend of mine suggested that I should listen to her album, and I did, and I'm quite liking it! So, happy easter weekend to you, especially if you're planning a holiday in the magical capital of my beautiful country (or if you're going to watch the famous movie with Audrey Hepburn)!
Back home from my trip in Portugal with my parents, I am still struck by fever and bored at home as I can't do anything but lying in bed day and night... computer, smartphone, everything is not really good for my headache, so I'm taking advantage of this moment of slight recovery to tell you guys I'm still alive! In the last couple of days I couldn't take Sia's 'Cheap thrills' out of my head, such an awesome song, but given that I already posted it a few weeks ago and that there's another good one that has been waiting quite a while, here it is for you! Don't forget to give a full listen to good albums, don't just stop at the singles / more renowned songs!
Hey guys, sorry for not posting yesterday. I was about to skip today too but then I decided to make an effort...! I got some hideous thing, probably a sunstroke or something like that... the strong wind hasn't been helping either, anyway I've got a fever (I think), a bad headache and some general malaise... not the best way to end this holiday in such a beautiful place as Algarve, but I got the best of it anyway! I've decided to post this song that has been there as a draft in my post list for a month and a half because it really feels like the perfect one to summarise how I'm feeling. I discovered it at the end of a 'Queer as folk' episode a few years ago and loved it immediately, and now it's time to share it with you! It's a little gem, so make sure you don't miss it out (the video is amazing too)!
At the end of this slightly tiring but very rewarding day of exploring Algarve, I found myself with a song off Tori's 'Americal doll posse' on my mind, so I went on to listen to the whole album. And I got the right inspiration for today's post. I'm not a huge fan of ADP, but I think I like it better than most Tori fans do. Ok, I agree, it's trashy pop. Mostly. And I'm not a big fan of that too (even if the song I mentioned falls under that category). What I think is that there are quite a few songs that, were they to be taken out of (this album's) context, they wouldn't feel bad in any of Tori's good albums. This is one of them and it has always been a favourite of mine, so I am sharing it with you now hoping that it will become a favourite of yours too!
My dear readers, I am writing this post from my hotel room in Portimao, as today we have finally reached Algarve, one of the dream destinations on my to-go-to list! We just got here for sunset and as soon as I put my baggage in the room, I rushed out to the beach to take pictures of the sunset light... how beautiful! Can't wait to get more beautiful pics, hopefully featuring the sun (which is expected to be shy in the next days, let's hope we'll get some blue skies...) this time around! I'll keep you updated, in the meanwhile enjoy your weekend with this awesome song by Adam!
Day 1, Night 2 in Lisbon. This morning didn't start in the best way: after a very nice breakfast with fresh pastries and tea, we got out and immediately got soaked under a hideous rain, which lasted until lunchtime. It's not been the best weather to enjoy the city (at all), but Lisbon is always beautiful. After a hefty lunch, some blue stripes has appeared in the sky and the rain stopped. We enjoyed a walk back to the apartment to leave my tired mother and then got out again for some more exploring. Before getting back we stopped back at a Fnac store and of course I brought home a few CDs! 'Some nights' was one of them and even if I haven't been listening to Fun. for more than 2 years, I always liked the album and I took advantage of a good deal! And remember: when things look dark (or grey), somehow, some time it gets better!
I'm wishing you a great night from one of my favourite cities, which I have the pleasure to be in once again! I'm talking about Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. This time it is only a stop, part of a more comprehensive trip (which I've been wanting to undertake for quite a while), but I really do love it and I'm so very pleased to get the chance to spend some time in it again! I am also very happy to share with you what has been one of my absolute favourite songs in this beginning of 2016, once again a great tune by Junip. I hope you'll enjoy the combo!
New music on the way: I approached the band headed by Bob Dylan's son soon after I got to know them at an extracurricular course in "History of pop/rock music" I attended in university in late 2012. I approached their second album in the last few days and I have already bonded with this lovely song! For those among you who don't know their music, it's classic american rock. At least, that's what it feels to me. I started listening to 'Counting crows' in the same period as 'The wallflowers' and their music is quite similar in terms of genre in my opinion. It's not my favourite genre, as these usually long rock ballads tend to bore me a little, but nonetheless there are particular times when (and songs that) I enjoy quite a bit. It's also funny as I remember linking one of my favourite 'Counting crows' songs (Anna begins) to Lisbon, as I heard a musician playing it live in the streets of the city when I first visited it in 2013. Funny thing: I'm leaving for Lisbon again tomorrow (well, today to be precise). American rock, ladies songs, similar bands, Lisbon... the circle is closed!
In these hours Radiohead have announced that they will embark on a world tour in the next few months, doing so in support of their forthcoming 9th album. I am lagging "just a little bit" behind, as I'm only going through with the CD2 of their second album, 'The bends'. Radiohead 2.2, while in real life they're almost at 9.1... well, I'll get there (sooner or later). I am glad I devoted a little more time the 'The bends' by listening to the extra material, even if I didn't go crazy for the album. I didn't go crazy for the extras either, but there are a few things here and there that made this effort worth it. This beautiful acoustic version of 'Fake plastic trees' is one of them.
Here for you is another super song that has been featured in one of my most recent playlists, probably the best one off Santigold's 2012 album among those that I didn't get to like immediately, let's call it the "best grower"! This album has been a real surprise and I can't wait to listen to her new work, that has come out a few days ago. I will not get to do that soon, I fear, as I already have tons of new music piled up in my discovery playlist, but I am really eager to get more of hers! In the meanwhile, let's enjoy this one, whose message is to not be afraid of appearance and of the judging of people who don't know us (in this case related to a "classic", "normal" American family), something I've talked about with a new friend just last night.
Lately I started watching a new (old) TV series, that is 'One tree hill'. Yeah, yeah, I know I am living my second teenage at almost-26 (or maybe it's the first one), but I am really enjoying the dose of teenage drama, feelings and experiences that my life is filled with (mostly on the screen I must say). I love TV series when they make you think about life, they teach you somethings, the remind you why you are who you are and what are the important things in life. Even if they're fake, there's always something good you can take and use in real life. I'm enjoying 'One tree hill' quite a bit for now, even if I practically just started. And watching this series, I couldn't help thinking at this beautiful, beautiful masterpiece by U2. I put 'The Joshua tree' on yesterday and well... many of these songs make me feel incredibly nostalgic. It might well be my favourite U2 album, and this is one of their best songs imho. Couldn't ask for anything better for this sundayrevival.
Hey guys, lately I've been feeling a bit sad about the blog, as for the first time (probably) since I started sharing my posts on Google+ I've been going through a whole month of posts without even one of them getting 10 +1s... I don't know why, if my writing has become boring, if I haven't been posting appealing songs, if something has changed with Google+ and/or its communities or what else... I am sad to see that the feedback is going down, but I am (really) happy to see that some of you out there keep supporting me by liking and commenting on what I post, and this is very, very important for me, as sharing with all of you out there the music I love is the very reason why I started writing this blog! I hope the tide is gonna turn and my posts will go and get a wider and wider audience! In the meanwhile I'll leave you another great tune by Will Butler off his debut solo album! Have a nice Saturday night!
Lately I have been having a lot of time (like, a lot) to think about my life, where it is going, how I am trying to shape my future, how to fill my present... of course I'm receiving a lot of pressure from society (i.e. my parents, my family, my friends and so on), as we are all, but at this time of my life in particular, being back at home after my first job experience went... not so well... I don't know, it's weird. I'm very, very happy that I got a plan sorted out and that, if everything's gonna go well, I'm gonna start a new path in September, so I can't even say or be told that I'm uselessly wasting my time. I'm just wai(s)ting my time! And I know it and I have thought about it and I have kind of made peace with myself, saying that I will do travels I've been wanting to do for quite a long time, and trying to use this time to do things that I won't have time to do in the next future or that I didn't do in the past. Yet these things are not so numerous or time-consuming, and I end up having loads of time that goes into TV series, movies, wasting time on the internet and so on. Plus, the less you do, the least productive you get; this is very true for me. I'm trying to keep it up and doing my best filling this time, but it hurts whenever people say that I'm wasting these months, acting like a "parasite" (my mother's words), because it's partly true, but it's also true that it doesn't make sense trying to invest my time into things that I know I won't pursue, as I already have my plans... All of this just to say, never forget that it's YOUR LIFE, it's YOUR CALL! Needless to say, this song has been stuck in my head for weeks!
Nothing particularly interesting going on with my life in these days: a dinner out with my wifey at the Indian restaurant, a movie, a new TV series, travel plans... I'm just mostly passing these days by in boredom. And in all of these, I could find the chance to post the blog at a decent time of day, but... nope! Here I am at past 3 in the morning! Because that's the way I like it.
Hey guys, tonight's been a movie night for me, actually TV series + movie! Between yesterday and today I breezed through the first seasons of MTV's highly anticipated 'The Shannara chronicles'. Being a long-time fan of the Shannara book series by Terry Brooks, I was very much curious about this TV transposition. Being the books very dense and very captivating and being MTV's series targeted mainly to teenagers, what I got was not very different from what I expected: teenage drama, polygamy, special effects and so on. All in all the result is not bad, but I can really say it is on a different level than the books. After finishing that, I moved to the final chapter of 'The Hunger Games', the second part of 'The Mockingjay'. Having read the books a couple years ago, I knew what to expect from the plot and I must say that this second part of the series last book is better than the first, densely packed with action and, for what I remember, quite truthful to the book. The ending is well crafted and left me with a positive impression of the whole movie series. But it's not only videos... don't worry, this is still a music blog and today I'm giving you the title-track of Adam Lambert's latest album, hoping you can enjoy it!
My life is getting a little bit out of control, especially as far as the wake and sleep cycle is concerned, but I'll work it out and find a good balance again (hopefully)! Older people often complain about our generation, saying that we think everything is due to us, that we don't invest time and energies into life issues as they did, that we are lazy and disrespectful, that we just complain and live in the social media realm rather than real life. All of these things are partly true, but also partly false. I believe that young people today are as disparate as they've ever been, because of the increased opportunities and information available, the range of choices available in any meaningful life decision has dramatically increased in the last few decades. That made us more picky, more choosy, more uncertain about what we want to do because there are so many possibilities... but this is our time and I think we are all doing our best. In the end, we are just the product of older generations and of all the past history of the world. We are the disparate youth generation and in the name of the moon, we will punish you!
"We know that we want more, a life worth fighting for"
Today I open our mailbox and found a leaflet by Jehovah's witnesses, there was written on it something about going together to paradise or else, not that I was much interested in it... at all. Sometimes I think about it and I am amazed by the fact that our society is so advanced under many points of view but still so backward under many others. In my opinion, religion is one of them. My perception is that religions has always been a way for men to explain what they weren't able to understand with supernatural entities. I think that nowadays our understanding of the laws of nature and of the world around us is, if still very much limited, much better than it used to be, say, 2000 years ago. So I find it very peculiar that religion (as organised cult, especially those that were born or evolved from centuries and centuries ago) still is so powerful and religious leaders still hold such a strong influence on so many people. I'm not denying spirituality, rather I think that it is a very, very important part of the human experience. I am just stunned that many people still live their spirituality following teachings so old. But don't worry, the son of god will come down and guide us!!
This week has come to an end so quickly! I didn't even realised it started yet, and here is a new one already! Quite a few things happened actually, but time is flowing by in a weird way lately..! Anyway, today I am sharing with you a very, very important song for me. 'Ceremonials' has been the album that converted me to the Florence + the Machine cause fully and completely, it's been one of the most significant albums of probably the most significant period of my life so far, when I blossomed, suffered and grew up, when I went to live abroad alone for the first time, when I learned (again) how to stand on my own two feet. 'Only if for a night' is the opening song of this album, one of F+tM favourites overall and one of those songs that... just gets carved into you. Whenever it starts, it feels like it's singing the story of a part of me, as if my body was giving voice to its own feelings.
Today has been a Florence + the Machine day, I have been practically listening just to their music and it's been a while since I didn't do that, probably since their concert in Milan last December. And it all started with this song. It was on my head, I don't know why, but as I told you it is just a part of me, so I'm not surprised that it just comes out like this, even without any perceptible trigger. I am sharing this piece of me with you, so please just treat it well (I know you will)!!
Yesterday I listened to San Cisco's music while taking a bath and my mind focused on their song 'Snow', off their latest album, which I quite like but had practically forgotten about. You might imagine my surprise when this morning I woke up to a world totally covered in white!! Just yesterday I took a picture of peach blossoms, claiming that spring was finally coming and now... this! I just realised that 'Snow' is the last song by San Cisco that I posted on the blog (more than 10 months ago), but I decided to anyway change my plan and choose another song of theirs to put here today, as it wouldn't have made sense to write this post about another song! What I chose is another good one off 'Gracetown', their sophomore and currently latest album, which is ok but in a totally different league than their genius, eponymous debut!! Hope you can enjoy this anyway, have a great weekend!
Double shame on me. After a busy day two days ago, wandering around in Milan, doing some courses that came up at the last time and then going to the cinema with my aunt, I didn't post yesterday... no excuses, but my day has been quite full coming back home from Milan and... well, that's it! Moreover I got up not too late and I already thought I would post something, but then it went off my mind. And today... today has been a rough day too, as I woke up super early to go and fetch my grandparents and take them to the doctor... unfortunately my car didn't wake up with me and it was all for nothing...! So I went to get lunch at my other grandparents' (it was grandma's birthday) and I practically spent my whole free time on Booking.com and so on, arranging trips that I'm undertaking in the next few weeks! Now I just finished watching Eyeshield 21, the anime series I've been following in the past few weeks, and I'm quite happy it got to an end, so that I can watch some real TV series now! Anyway, even if the show got pretty slow and boring lately, it's been the first time I understood so many words spoken by the characters (I watch them in original Japanese language with subtitles), so it looks like my (languishing) Japanese studies are paying off!! In honour of that I'm gonna be posting probably the last song off Mistki's 2014 album (for now), even if it's still early (and not late) spring and my first love is gone with the wind!
Some days you just gotta do what you gotta do to feel better, even if that means keeping your shoes on (or having people keep their shoes on). And then you feel better. And then you go and walk the hell out of your feet to run all the errands you gotta run, and succeed! And leave your phone at the post office in the process, while you're going to buy an envelope nearby, but a nice lady notices and the post office employee tells you, when you come back 1 minute later, "are you sure you didn't forget anything?!"....! Anyway, what's done is done, everything went well, I didn't keep my shoes on but I did make somebody keep theirs (actually they did it themselves, it's not like I was in a hurry)... and everything's fine!
As I've told you many times lately, I've been listening to a lot of new music in the last few weeks/months, but undoubtedly the best music, which has quickly entered the olympus of my favourite music (if such thing even exists), is Junip's. Some magic has happened, the right music coming at the right time, or maybe it's just great music that I was lucky enough to find out now. I don't know... it didn't happen often that some artist's lyrics really seem to speak your mind, and it mostly happened with Florence + the Machine and maybe Tori Amos to me (but I already told you that methinks), and it happened again with Junip, with a few songs of theirs, especially out of their latest album, released in 2013. This is the opening track of it, a track I've immediately grown fond of and that has already become one of my favourites. Give it a chance, and it will enter your own personal olympus too!!
Today I came to Milan, it's been a short while since last time, not that long anyway. For the first time in ages my life didn't go instantly crazy when Milan came into it, maybe just because this time I didn't text all of my friends who live in town, asking if they wanted to meet!! I hope I'll be able to take it easier, do the few things I have to do and enjoy my time here. Not that I usually don't when I'm running, rather...! Anyway I'm sharing with you another super awesome song by Santigold, one I really, really got to like!! I hope you guys are gonna enjoy it too!! Cheers for this new week!
